Christchurch Big Five Attractions

Christchurch, New Zealand

Want to cover the five "must-do" attractions in Christchurch in one day? You'll visit the International Antarctic Center, see native kiwis at the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, take a ride on a historic Christchurch tram, soar above the city on the Christchurch Gondola before taking a relaxing two-hour harbor cruise.

Please note:  Due to the earthquake in Christchurch this tour is not operating until further notice

Your first stop is the International Antarctic Center, winner of the New Zealand Tourism Board award for "Best Visitor Attraction". Antarctica's beautiful icy wilderness has been re-created at the Antarctic Center, providing an exciting interactive experience of the Southern Continent, which very few people have the opportunity to visit first-hand.

You will then travel to the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve where you can explore the farmyard, feed the animals and see a wide variety of birds and animals, both native and introduced to New Zealand, including the kiwi in its natural habitat, eels, keas, deer and possums.

You'll then travel back to Christchurch city center to take a ride on the historic Christchurch Tram. The 25-minute ride covers the city's attractions and includes a full on-board commentary.

Next stop is the Christchurch Gondola for a cable-car ride to the summit, with breathtaking 360-degree views of the city, Canterbury Plains and Banks Peninsula. After your exhilarating Gondola Ride, you'll take a relaxing two-hour cruise with the 2002 Tourism Award-winning company Christchurch Wildlife Cruises.

USD $168.63

Review by: Harry C.	March 2011
This is all you must seen in Christchurch...

Review by: Jodie C	January 2011
Well we were the only 2 taking the big 5 on the day we went so we joined with another group who were only doing 4 attractions and they were given a choice between 2 of the attractions so they're was confusion and delays from the start. We were on the bus for 50mins before we got to our first attraction the next attraction we were there for a rushed hour. My husband and I had to catch the bus with the others who were going on the Gondola( we weren't told we were not) when we got there we were put on another bus to go for our cruise but the bus driver didn't tell the new bus driver we were going for the cruise so he just took us back to the city with the rest of the group. So we missed the cruise and were refunded an amount of money which we thought wasn't enough. All in all a crap day!!

Review by: JOE P	November 2010
Great time had by all. Plenty of time to see the outstanding exhibits that the city has to offer.

Review by: Al O	November 2010
Excellent guide and well organized.

Review by: Katherine C	September 2010
What a great day. Jam packed full of all the best sights and experiences Christchurch has to offer. Well organized and fantastic value for money. If you only have one day available in Christchurch, I would thoroughly recommend doing the "Big Five Attractions". We were amazed by the friendliness and helpfulness of both the tour drivers and operators. A great start to our holiday. Thanks.

Review by: George Z, Australia	July 2010
Poor weather broke up our tour, and transport for the rescheduled part of our tour cruise and gondola was an issue.

Review by: Margaret H	July 2010
Very wet so not the best time to go

Review by: LYNN G	July 2010
Good full day coverage of Christchurch attractions. Cruise & Gondala were highlights. Drivers very helpful.

Review by: David H, United Kingdom	April 2010
Very good, very organised.

Review by: Sandra R, Australia	April 2010
What a fantastic and interesting day. It gave us an excellent overview of the top five attractions and the combination of venues was tops. We had to defer our trip by a week due to heavy fog when we due to arrive in Christchurch and our subsequent diversion for the night to Auckland, but the staff at Canterbury Leisure Tours were very helpful even at 2.00am in the morning when I rang to inform them of our arrival delay and nothing was a problem. The collection at the motel was exactly on time and the day run completely to schedule.

Review by: Wally A, Australia	April 2010
It was a jam packed day, but well worth it. You get to see all the places you should see in Christchurch and there is generally enough time spent in each place before they come pick you up would have liked a bit of extra time in the Antartica museum. We got pretty tired near the end so when we were told we could use our Tram passes the next day, we did!! We wouldn't of enjoyed it as much if we squeezed it in onto the end of the day so we did it the next morning when we were more relaxed. Definitely a worthwhile trip.

Review by: Wayil A	April 2010
It was a jam packed day, but well worth it. You get to see all the places you should see in Christchurch and there is generally enough time spent in each place before they come pick you up would have liked a bit of extra time in the Antartica museum. We got pretty tired near the end so when we were told we could use our Tram passes the next day, we did!! We wouldn't of enjoyed it as much if we squeezed it in onto the end of the day so we did it the next morning when we were more relaxed. Definitely a worthwhile trip.

Review by: Roger D	March 2010
Well organised but as it involved many activities, a schedule would have been helpful. Also, not enough time at each location, especially the 'willowpark' location. The Black Cat catamaran wasn't and the sail not as good as it should have been.

Review by: Ann N, New Zealand	February 2010
If you have limited time in Christchurch, this tour is an excellent way to see 5 of the main attractions. The tour guide was very friendly and safety conscious. Thankyou for a wonderful day.

Review by: Tim D, United States of America	January 2010
A very nice way to see Christchurch.

Review by: Deepa J, Australia	December 2009
It was a wonderful experience. With a very short stay in Chirstchuch and desire to see the most favourite attractions of the city, booking through viator certainly was worthwhile. Moreover there was enough time for going around the places. The tour was very well guided too satisfying every bit of our curiosity.

Review by: William F, United States of America	December 2009
The tour was very good and met our expectations. Your driver was very nice and helpful. Our ship was late getting to port and we were late for our meeting time. He took the time to come back for us so we only missed part of the tour. Very considerate. A good tour.

Review by: Caitlin G, Australia	December 2009
Great way to explore the city and its surrounds. Learned a lot about the area and saw it from many different angles. Great day full of fun!

Review by: Charles B, Australia	October 2009
A great day, full of lots of things to do. The cruise was a great way to see this part of the country and we managed to spot the dolphins as promised. The weather was also very kind to us. The Antarctic Exhibition was also time well spent, with the "blizzard" experience quite worthy of mention. Feeding the penguins and meeting the keepers was a plus for children. The Gondola and tram rides were very good and once again, the weather stayed fine and sunny which all went towards a great day.

Review by: GARBUTT R, French Polynesia	December 2008
The tour is great but it was raining this day. This tour its a good trip for discovering Christchurch's activities. Well recommend it for somebody who come for the first time in Christchurch.

Review by: PuiShan T, Australia	November 2008
The whole trip is good, but we didn't see the dolphins on the cruise.

Review by: Pui Shan T	November 2008
The whole trip is good, but we didn't see the dolphins on the cruise.

Review by: Saminda G, Australia	March 2008
Willowbank was excellent. If you liked it, make sure you go to Orana Wildlife Park as well. Lyttleton Harbour is nice, but it can get rough out there. The gondola, tram, and Antartica Centre were great!

Review by: Ved Bhushan G	March 2008
It should be a combined tour in one coach with all the tourists. Time given at Antarctica should not be more than 40 minutes.

Review by: Anonymous	February 2008
Overall it was an efficient way to do many activities in a short time. However, we were dropped at the Antarctic Center where we had to fend for ourselves because the center's staff didn't seem to be familiar with the vouchers we had. This meant standing in a long line unnecessarily. The captain of the harbor ship tour really worked hard at being positive about seeing dolphins, which eventually we did. To include the tram ride in the big five was something of a ripoff.

Review by: TT	November 2007
The staff were rushed, disorganised and rude. I would not recommend it.

Review by: Kay M	October 2007
Unfortunately for us, the harbor cruise was cancelled.

Review by: Aveenash R, New Zealand	June 2007
There was three days' worth of scenery and history covered in a single day.

Review by: Florence M, Cyprus	April 2007
Due to the weather we had to do some of the activities on different days, but thoroughly enjoyed them all.

Review by: David W, United States of America	March 2007
Due to a chance in the cruise ship's schedule, we were only able to see four out of the five. However, the tour operator went out of its way to do what they could to see what we did.

Review by: Mary Ann W	March 2007
Due to a chance in the cruise ship's schedule, we were only able to see four out of the five. However, the tour operator went out of its way to do what they could to see what we did.

Review by: Angela S	November 2006
My only complaint was that the bus that was supposed to turn up from Willowbank to take us through to connect to the Wildlife Cruise didn't show up. This rushed us and delayed the cruise.